Method and apparatus for advancing air into a fuel reformer by use of a turbocharger

ABSTRACT

A method of operating a power system includes operating a turbocharger so as to produce pressurized air, and advancing the pressurized air into a fuel reformer. The method also includes advancing reformate gas produced by the fuel reformer to a component such as the intake of the engine, an emission abatement device, or a fuel cell. A power system operated by such a method is also disclosed.

[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Serial No. 60/401,095 which was filed on Aug. 5, 2002, thedisclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] Cross reference is made to copending U.S. patent application Ser.No. ______ (Attorney Docket No. 9501-72760) entitled “Method andApparatus for Generating Pressurized Air by Use of Reformate Gas from aFuel Reformer,” along with copending U.S. patent application Ser. No.______ (Attorney Docket No. 9501-72887) entitled “Method and Apparatusfor Advancing Air into a Fuel Reformer by Use of an Engine Vacuum,” bothof which are assigned to the same assignee as the present application,filed concurrently herewith, and hereby incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

[0003] The present disclosure relates generally to a power system and amethod of operating the power system. More particularly, the presentdisclosure relates to advancing air into a fuel reformer of the powersystem.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

[0004] A fuel reformer is used to reform a hydrocarbon fuel into areformate gas. Some fuel reformers use a mixture of air and fuel toproduce the reformate gas. More particularly, air is advanced into suchfuel reformers and mix with fuel with such a mixture being used toproduce the reformate gas.

[0005] Reformate gas from fuel reformers may be utilized as a fuel orfuel additive in the operation of an internal combustion engine. Suchreformate gas may also be utilized to regenerate an emission abatementdevice or as a fuel for a fuel cell.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

[0006] According to one aspect of the disclosure, a fuel reformingsystem includes a turbocharger and a fuel reformer. The turbocharger hasa pressurized air outlet that is fluidly coupled to an air inlet of thefuel reformer so that the turbocharger can provide pressurized air foruse by the fuel reformer.

[0007] The turbocharger has a turbine assembly that drives a compressorassembly to provide the pressurized air. In one embodiment, the turbineassembly is driven by exhaust gas discharged by an internal combustionengine. In another embodiment, the turbine assembly is driven by areformate gas produced by the fuel reformer.

[0008] A method of operating the above system includes operating theturbocharger so as to produce pressurized air, and advancing thepressurized air through the fuel reformer.

[0009] According to another aspect of the disclosure, a method ofoperating a power system includes operating the turbocharger so as toproduce pressurized air, and advancing a reformate gas from the fuelreformer to a component with the pressurized air. The component may be,for example, the intake of the engine, an emission abatement device, ora fuel cell.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010]FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram of a power system that usesthe engine vacuum of an internal combustion engine to advance air into afuel reformer and to advance a reformate gas produced by the fuelreformer to the engine;

[0011]FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram of a second embodiment of apower system that uses the engine vacuum of an internal combustionengine to advance air into a fuel reformer and to advance a reformategas produced by the fuel reformer to an emission abatement device;

[0012]FIG. 3 is a simplified block diagram of a third embodiment of apower system that uses the engine vacuum of an internal combustionengine to drive a turbocharger which, when driven, advances pressurizedair into a fuel reformer to advance a reformate gas produced by the fuelreformer to an emission abatement device;

[0013]FIG. 4 is a simplified block diagram of a fourth embodiment of apower system in which exhaust gas discharged from an internal combustionengine drives a turbocharger which, when driven, advances pressurizedair into a fuel reformer to advance a reformate gas produced by the fuelreformer to the engine;

[0014]FIG. 5 is a simplified block diagram of a fifth embodiment of apower system in which exhaust gas discharged from an internal combustionengine drives a turbocharger which, when driven, advances pressurizedair into a fuel reformer to advance a reformate gas produced by the fuelreformer to an emission abatement device;

[0015]FIG. 6 is a simplified block diagram of a sixth embodiment of apower system having a turbocharger that advances pressurized air to afuel reformer that produces a reformate gas that drives the turbochargerand advances to a component of the power system;

[0016]FIG. 7 is a simplified block diagram showing an internalcombustion engine as being the component of the power system of FIG. 6that receives the reformate gas produced by the fuel reformer;

[0017]FIG. 8 is a simplified block diagram showing an emission abatementdevice as being the component of the power system of FIG. 6 thatreceives the reformate gas produced by the fuel reformer; and

[0018]FIG. 9 is a simplified block diagram showing a fuel cell as beingthe component of the power system of FIG. 6 that receives the reformategas produced by the fuel reformer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

[0019] While the concepts of the present disclosure are susceptible tovarious modifications and alternative forms, specific exemplaryembodiments thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawingsand will herein be described in detail. It should be understood,however, that there is no intent to limit the disclosure to theparticular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is tocover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives following withinthe spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

[0020] Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown a power system 10 whichincludes a fuel reformer 12 and an internal combustion engine 14. Aconduit 16 interconnects the fuel reformer 12 and the engine 14. Thefuel reformer 12 uses fuel and air to produce a reformate gas. Thereformate gas is, for example, hydrogen-rich gas. The reformate gas mayinclude other constituents such as carbon monoxide. The fuel is, forexample, a hydrocarbon fuel, such as gasoline or diesel fuel, suppliedby a fuel tank (not shown) of the power system 10.

[0021] The engine 14 produces an engine vacuum when running (i.e.,operated in an actuated mode of operation). The engine vacuum iscommunicated from the engine 14 to the fuel reformer 12 via the conduit16 so as to draw or otherwise advance air into the fuel reformer 12. Atsome point (either prior to or subsequent to entry into the fuelreformer 12), some portion of the air may be mixed with fuel with theresultant mixture being reformed so as to produce the reformate gas. Theengine vacuum further draws or otherwise advances the reformate gas fromthe fuel reformer 12 into the engine 14 so as to enhance the combustionprocess in the engine 14, for example.

[0022] The fuel reformer 12 comprises, for example, a plasma fuelreformer. A plasma fuel reformer uses a plasma a heated, electricallyconducting gas to convert hydrocarbon fuel into hydrogen-rich gas. Sucha plasma fuel reformer heats the electrically conducting gas either byan arc discharge or by a high frequency inductive or microwavedischarge. Systems including plasma fuel reformers are disclosed in U.S.Pat. No. 5,425,332 issued to Rabinovich et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,250issued to Rabinovich et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,409,784 issued to Bromberget al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,887,554 issued to Cohn, et al., thedisclosures of each of which is hereby incorporated by reference.Additional examples of systems including plasma fuel reformers aredisclosed in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/158,615entitled “Low Current Plasmatron Fuel Converter Having Enlarged VolumeDischarges” which was filed on May 30, 2002 by A. Rabinovich, N.Alexeev, L. Bromberg, D. Cohn, and A. Samokhin, along with copendingU.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/411,917 entitled “Plasmatron FuelConverter Having Decoupled Air Flow Control” which was filed on Apr. 11,2003 by A. Rabinovich, N. Alexeev, L. Bromberg, D. Cohn, and A.Samokhin, the disclosures of both of which are hereby incorporated byreference. The fuel reformer 12 may comprise another type of fuelreformer, such as a catalytic fuel reformer, a thermal fuel reformer, ora steam fuel reformer.

[0023] The fuel reformer 12 includes an air inlet 18 for admitting airinto the fuel reformer 12 and a reformate gas outlet 20 for dischargingthe reformate gas from the fuel reformer 12. The engine 14 has an intake22 such as an intake manifold for admitting the reformate gas into theengine 14. The conduit 16 is coupled to the reformate gas outlet 20 andthe intake 22 to conduct the reformate gas from the outlet 20 to theintake 22.

[0024] During operation of the engine 14, the engine vacuum is presentat intake 22. The engine vacuum causes air to advance through the inlet18 and into the fuel reformer 12. The engine vacuum further causes thereformate gas produced by the reformer 12 to advance from the outlet 20through the conduit 16 to the intake 22.

[0025] During advancement of air through the fuel reformer 12 with theengine vacuum, a pressure drop across the fuel reformer 12 from theinlet 18 to the outlet 20 is present. As such, an outlet pressure at theoutlet 20 is less than an inlet pressure at the inlet 18.

[0026] Advancing the reformate gas from the outlet 20 through theconduit 16 to the intake 22 generates a pressure drop across the conduit16 between the outlet 20 and the intake 22. More particularly, advancingthe reformate gas from the outlet 20 through the conduit 16 to theintake 22 generates an intake pressure at the intake 22 which is lessthan the outlet pressure at the outlet 20.

[0027] Operation of the engine 14 produces mechanical output which isused to drive or otherwise mechanically power a driven mechanism (notshown). Specifically, the driven mechanism is mechanically coupled to anoutput mechanism of the engine 14 such as a crankshaft or the like. Thedriven mechanism may be embodied as a transmission, specifically avehicle transmission, which is used to propel a vehicle. In the case ofwhen the power system 10 is used in the construction of a stationarypower-generating system or a hybrid vehicle, the driven mechanism may beprovided as a power generator or the like for producing electrical powerfrom the mechanical output of the engine 14. The driven mechanism may beembodied as any type of mechanism which is driven by an internalcombustion engine. For example, the driven mechanism may be embodied asa pump mechanism or the like.

[0028] Referring now to FIG. 2, there is shown another power system 110.The power system 110 includes structures similar to structures of thepower system 10 so that like reference numerals refer to likestructures.

[0029] The power system 110 includes the fuel reformer 12 and the engine14. The power system 110 further includes an emission abatement device124 such as a NO_(x) absorber or a soot filter. The emission abatementdevice 124 is fluidly coupled to the engine 14 via an exhaust gasconduit 126 to receive exhaust gas discharged from the engine 14 toremove or otherwise treat emissions of the exhaust gas.

[0030] The device 124 is arranged, for example, to remove compounds suchas NO_(x), SO_(x), or soot particles present in the exhaust gasdischarged from the engine 14. In particular, the device 124 may be usedto trap or otherwise capture one or more compounds present in theengine's exhaust gases. In such a way, treated emissions are exhaustedinto the surrounding atmosphere.

[0031] The emission abatement device 124 is fluidly coupled to thereformate gas outlet 20 of the fuel reformer 12 via a reformate gasconduit 116 to receive the reformate gas from the fuel reformer 12. Thereformate gas is used to regenerate or otherwise condition the emissionabatement device 124 during operation of the engine 14.

[0032] The engine vacuum produced by the engine 14 is used to draw orotherwise advance the reformate gas from the outlet 20 to the emissionabatement device 124. To do so, a vacuum source 122 of the engine 14 isfluidly coupled to the reformate gas conduit 116 via a vacuum supplyconduit 128. The engine vacuum thus causes the reformate gas to advancefrom the outlet 20 of the fuel reformer 12 to the emission abatementdevice 124 via the reformate gas conduit 116. It should be appreciatedthat the vacuum present in the supply conduit 128 also causes air to beadvanced into the fuel reformer 12 in a similar manner to as describedabove with respect to FIG. 1.

[0033] Referring now to FIG. 3, there is shown another power system 210.The power system 210 includes structures similar to structures of thepower system 10 and the power system 110 so that like reference numeralsrefer to like structures.

[0034] Similar to power system 110, power system 210 includes anemission abatement device 124 fluidly coupled to a fuel reformer 12 viaa reformate gas conduit 116. The emission abatement device 124 isfluidly coupled to an engine 14 via an exhaust gas conduit 126 toreceive exhaust gas discharged from the engine 14 to reduce or otherwisetreat emissions of the exhaust gas.

[0035] Power system 210 also includes a turbocharger 230 for advancingair into the inlet 18 of the fuel reformer 12 with the engine vacuumproduced by the engine 14. In particular, the turbocharger 230 has aturbine assembly 232 and a compressor assembly 236. The turbine assembly232 is driven by the engine vacuum. The turbine assembly 232 in turndrives the compressor assembly 236 via a shaft (not shown) coupled tothe turbine assembly 232 and the compressor assembly 236. Operation ofthe compressor assembly 236 pressurizes air and advances the pressurizedair into the fuel reformer 12. Operation of the compressor assembly 236further causes the reformate gas produced by the fuel reformer 12 toadvance from the fuel reformer 12 to the emission abatement device 124for regeneration of the emission abatement device 124.

[0036] The turbine assembly 232 has a turbine gas inlet 240 and aturbine gas outlet 242. The turbine gas outlet 242 is fluidly coupled toa vacuum source 122 of the engine 14 via a vacuum supply conduit 234.The engine vacuum provided by the vacuum source 122 draws or otherwiseadvances air through the turbine gas inlet 240, the turbine assembly232, the turbine gas outlet 242, and the vacuum supply conduit 234 todrive the turbine assembly 232.

[0037] The compressor assembly 236 has an unpressurized air inlet 246and a pressurized air outlet 248. The unpressurized air inlet 246 admitsunpressurized air (i.e., air having a pressure lower than air at thepressurized air outlet 248) into the compressor assembly 236. Thepressurized air outlet 248 discharges air pressurized by the compressorassembly 236. The pressurized air outlet 248 is fluidly coupled to theinlet 18 of the fuel reformer 12 via a pressurized air conduit 238.Operation of the compressor assembly 238 causes pressurized air toadvance from the pressurized air outlet 248 through the pressurized airconduit 238 and through the inlet 18 of the fuel reformer 12 and causesthe reformate gas produced by the fuel reformer 12 to advance from theoutlet 20 of the fuel reformer 12 through the reformate gas conduit 116to the emission abatement device 124.

[0038] It should be appreciated that the herein described systems mayalso be utilized to supply reformate gas from the fuel reformer tocomponents other than an engine or an emission abatement device. Forexample, the engine vacuum produced by the engine may be used to advanceair into the fuel reformer and to advance a reformate gas produced bythe fuel reformer from the fuel reformer to a fuel cell. A fuel celluses the reformate gas to generate electricity to power electricalcomponents of the power system or other electrical components. The fuelcell may be embodied as any type of fuel cell. For example, the fuelcell may be embodied as an alkaline fuel cell (AFC), a phosphoric acidfuel cell (PAFC), a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), a solidoxide fuel cell (SOFC), a molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC), or anyother type of fuel cell.

[0039] Referring now to FIG. 4, another power system 310 is shown. Thepower system 310 includes structures similar to structures of theabove-described power systems so that like reference numerals refer tolike structures.

[0040] The power system 310 includes a fuel reformer 12, an internalcombustion engine 14, and a turbocharger 330. The fuel reformer 12 usesfuel from a fuel tank (not shown) and pressurized air from theturbocharger 330 to produce a reformate gas which is advanced to theengine 14. Exhaust gas discharged from the engine 14 is used to drivethe turbocharger 330 so that the turbocharger 330 can provide thepressurized air for use by the fuel reformer 12.

[0041] The turbocharger 330 has a turbine assembly 332 and a compressorassembly 336 coupled to the turbine assembly 332 via a shaft (notshown). The turbine assembly 332 has a turbine gas inlet 340 and aturbine gas outlet 342. The turbine gas inlet 340 admits exhaust gasdischarged from the exhaust manifold 23 of the engine 14 into theturbine assembly 332. The turbine gas outlet 342 discharges exhaust gasfrom the turbine assembly 332. The turbine gas inlet 340 is fluidlycoupled to the exhaust manifold 23 of the engine 14 via an exhaust gasconduit 348 so that exhaust gas discharged from the exhaust manifold 23flows from the exhaust manifold 23 through the exhaust gas conduit 344,the turbine gas inlet 340, the turbine assembly 332, and the turbine gasoutlet 342 to drive the turbine assembly 332.

[0042] The compressor assembly 336 has an unpressurized air inlet 346and a pressurized air outlet 348. The unpressurized air inlet 346 admitsunpressurized air (i.e., air having a pressure lower than air at thepressurized air outlet 348) into the compressor assembly 336. Thepressurized air outlet 348 discharges pressurized air from thecompressor assembly 336.

[0043] The exhaust gas drives the turbine assembly 332 as it advancestherethrough. The turbine assembly 332 in turn drives the compressorassembly 336. As the compressor assembly 336 is driven, it pressurizesunpressurized air admitted into the compressor assembly 336 through theunpressurized air inlet 346 to provide pressurized air at thepressurized air outlet 348. The pressurized air outlet 348 is fluidlycoupled to the pressurized air inlet 18 of the fuel reformer via apressurized air conduit 350. In such a way, pressurized air from theturbocharger 330 is advanced out the pressurized air outlet 348, throughthe pressurized air conduit 350, and into the pressurized air inlet 346.Operation of the turbocharger 330 thus advances pressurized air from theturbocharger 330 into the fuel reformer 12.

[0044] The fuel reformer uses the pressurized air and fuel to producethe reformate gas. The reformate gas is discharged from a reformate gasoutlet 20 of the fuel reformer 12 and advances from the reformate gasoutlet 20 through a reformate gas conduit 16 to an intake 22 of theengine 14 with the pressurized air. Operation of the turbocharger 330thus also advances the reformate gas from the fuel reformer 12 to theengine 14.

[0045] Referring now to FIG. 5, another power system 410 is shown. Thepower system 410 includes structures similar to structures of theabove-described power systems so that like reference numerals refer tolike structures.

[0046] The power system 410 includes a fuel reformer 12, an internalcombustion engine 14, a turbocharger 330, and an emission abatementdevice 124. Exhaust gas discharged from the engine 14 flows through theturbocharger 330 to operate the turbocharger 330 and then flows throughthe emission abatement device 124 for treatment of the exhaust gas priorto discharge to the surrounding atmosphere. Operation of theturbocharger 330 pressurizes air and causes the pressurized air toadvance into the fuel reformer 12. The reformate gas produced by thefuel reformer 12 is advanced from the fuel reformer 12 to the emissionabatement device 124 by pressurized air from the turbocharger 330 forregeneration of the emission abatement device 124.

[0047] The turbocharger 330 is fluidly coupled to the engine 14, theemission abatement device 124, and the fuel reformer 12. The exhaustmanifold 23 of the engine 14 is fluidly coupled to a turbine gas inlet340 of a turbine assembly 332 of the turbocharger 330 via an exhaust gasconduit 344. In such a way, exhaust gas from the exhaust manifold 23 isadvanced through the exhaust gas conduit 344 an into the turbine gasinlet 340. A turbine gas outlet 342 is fluidly coupled to the emissionabatement device 124 via an exhaust gas conduit 452 to provide exhaustgas from the turbine gas outlet 342 through the exhaust gas conduit 452to the emission abatement device 124. A pressurized air outlet 348 of acompressor assembly 336 of the turbocharger 330 is fluidly coupled to apressurized air inlet 18 of the fuel reformer 12 via a pressurized airconduit 350 to provide pressurized air from the pressurized air outlet348 through the pressurized air conduit 350 to the pressurized air inlet18.

[0048] Exhaust gas drives the turbine assembly 332 as it flows from theturbine gas inlet 340 through the turbine assembly 332 to the turbinegas outlet 342. The turbine assembly 332 in turn drives the compressorassembly 336. Operation of the compressor assembly 336 pressurizes airthat enters the compressor assembly 336 through an unpressurized airinlet 346 and exits the compressor assembly 336 through the pressurizedair outlet 348. The driven compressor assembly 336 causes thepressurized air to advance through the pressurized air conduit 350 andthe pressurized air inlet 18 into the fuel reformer 12 and causes thereformate gas produced by the fuel reformer 12 to advance from areformate gas outlet 20 of the fuel reformer 12 to the emissionabatement device 12 through a reformate gas conduit 116.

[0049] Referring now to FIG. 6, another power system 510 is shown. Thepower system 510 includes structures similar to structures of theabove-described power systems so that like reference numerals refer tolike structures.

[0050] The power system 510 includes a fuel reformer 12, a turbocharger330, and a component 511. The component 511 may be, for example, theinternal combustion engine 14 (see FIG. 7), the emission abatementdevice 124 (see FIG. 8), or a fuel cell 513 (see FIG. 9). The reformategas produced by the fuel reformer 12 advances through the turbocharger330 to operate the turbocharger 330. Thereafter, the reformate gas isexhausted from the turbocharger 330 and advanced to either the intake 22of the engine 14, the emission abatement device 124, or the fuel cell513. Hence, operation of the turbocharger 330 provides pressurized airfor input into the fuel reformer 12, and, similar to as described above,for advancement of the reformate gas produced from the fuel reformer 12to the component 511 (via the turbocharger 330).

[0051] The turbocharger 330 is fluidly coupled to the fuel reformer 12and the component 511. In particular, the turbine gas inlet 340 of aturbine assembly 332 of the turbocharger 330 is fluidly coupled to thereformate gas outlet 20 of the fuel reformer 12 via a reformate gasconduit 516. The turbine gas outlet 342 of the turbine assembly 332 isfluidly coupled to the component 511 via a reformate gas conduit 517.The pressurized air outlet 348 is fluidly coupled to a pressurized airinlet 18 of the fuel reformer via a pressurized air conduit 350.

[0052] The reformate gas produced by the fuel reformer 12 drives theturbine assembly 332. The reformate gas advances from the reformate gasoutlet 20 through the reformate gas conduit 516 to the reformate gasinlet 340 of the turbine assembly 332. The reformate gas then flows fromthe reformate gas inlet 340 through the turbine assembly 332 to thereformate gas outlet 342 of the turbine assembly 332 to drive theturbine assembly 332. Upon exiting the turbine assembly 332 through thereformate gas outlet 342, the reformate gas advances through thereformate gas conduit 517 to the component 511.

[0053] Flow of exhaust gas through the turbine assembly 332 causes theturbine assembly 332 to drive the compressor assembly 336. Operation ofthe compressor assembly 336 causes unpressurized air to enter thecompressor assembly 336 through an unpressurized air inlet 346, to flowthrough the compressor assembly 336, and to exit the compressor assembly336 through the pressurized air outlet 348 as pressurized air. Uponexiting the compressor assembly 336, the pressurized air advancesthrough the pressurized air conduit 350 to the pressurized air inlet 18of the fuel reformer 12 for mixing with fuel to produce the reformategas.

[0054] While the concepts of the present disclosure have beenillustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoingdescription, such an illustration and description is to be considered asexemplary and not restrictive in character, it being understood thatonly the illustrative embodiments have been shown and described and thatall changes and modifications that come within the spirit of thedisclosure are desired to be protected.

[0055] There are a plurality of advantages of the concepts of thepresent disclosure arising from the various features of the systemsdescribed herein. It will be noted that alternative embodiments of eachof the systems of the present disclosure may not include all of thefeatures described yet still benefit from at least some of theadvantages of such features. Those of ordinary skill in the art mayreadily devise their own implementations of a system that incorporateone or more of the features of the present disclosure and fall withinthe spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

1. A method of operating a fuel reforming system, the method comprisingthe steps of: operating a turbocharger so as to produce pressurized air,and cadvancing the pressurized air through a fuel reformer.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising the step of advancing a reformategas produced by the fuel reformer to an intake of an internal combustionengine with the pressurized air.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein: thereformate gas comprises a hydrogen-rich gas, and the reformate gasadvancing step comprises advancing the hydrogen-rich gas to the intakeof the engine with the pressurized air.
 4. The method of claim 1,further comprising the step of advancing a reformate gas produced by thefuel reformer to an emission abatement device with the pressurized air.5. The method of claim 4, wherein: the reformate gas comprises ahydrogen-rich gas, and the reformate gas advancing step comprisesadvancing the hydrogen-rich gas to the emission abatement device withthe pressurized air.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein: the turbochargerhas a turbine assembly, and the operating step comprises driving theturbine assembly with exhaust gases from an internal combustion engine.7. The method of claim 1, wherein: the fuel reformer comprises a plasmafuel reformer having an air inlet, and the advancing step comprisesadvancing the pressurized air through the air inlet of the plasma fuelreformer.
 8. A fuel reforming system, comprising: a turbocharger havinga pressurized air outlet, and a fuel reformer having an air inletfluidly coupled to the pressurized air outlet.
 9. The system of claim 8,wherein: the fuel reformer has a reformate gas outlet, and the reformategas outlet is fluidly coupled to an intake of an internal combustionengine.
 10. The system of claim 8, wherein: the fuel reformer has areformate gas outlet, and the reformate gas outlet is fluidly coupled toan emission abatement device.
 11. The system of claim 8, wherein: theturbocharger comprises a turbine assembly having a turbine gas inlet,and the turbine gas inlet is fluidly coupled to an exhaust manifold ofan internal combustion engine.
 12. The system of claim 8, wherein thefuel reformer comprises a plasma fuel reformer.
 13. A method ofoperating a power system, the method comprising the steps of: operatinga turbocharger so as to produce pressurized air, and advancing areformate gas from a fuel reformer to a component with the pressurizedair.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the advancing step comprisesadvancing the reformate gas from the fuel reformer to an intake of aninternal combustion engine with the pressurized air.
 15. The method ofclaim 13, wherein the advancing step comprises advancing the reformategas from the fuel reformer to an emission abatement device with thepressurized air.
 16. The method of claim 13, wherein: the turbochargerhas a turbine assembly, and the operating step comprises driving theturbine assembly with exhaust gases from an internal combustion engine.17. The method of claim 13, wherein: the reformate gas comprises ahydrogen-rich gas, and the advancing step comprises advancing thehydrogen-rich gas to the component with the pressurized air.